October 22, 2016

Guan Eng: Attacks on ex-PM sparked walkout

The DAP has defended a walkout by opposition MPs during the Budget speech in the Dewan Rakyat on Friday.

DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said the walkout had happened after Prime Minister Najib Razak used the budget speech to continuously attack the opposition, a former prime minister and two former deputy prime ministers.

Lim, who is MP for Bagan, was not in the House at the time, as he had returned to Penang at 5pm to welcome the Raja of Perlis and his entourage who were visiting the state to attend the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Penang Free School last night.

The tabling of the 2017 Budget was disrupted when opposition MPs suddenly stood up to interrupt Najib’s speech when he disputed opposition allegations that the government had insufficient funds.

“In fact, an opposition leader stated that Malaysia will face a difficult economic situation this year. Now, who is without substance? Where did the storm originate from? Who is the one putting up a show?” Najib had said.

The Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had tried to get MPs to sit down and maintain decorum after some of them stood up, holding placards which read “Who is MO1?”, a reference to the term “Malaysian Official One” used by the US Justice Department in a civil suit about assets linked to 1MDB funds.

Last year, opposition MPs had pulled a similar stunt, holding up placards that read, “Where is the RM2.6 billion” in reference to money that was banked into Najib’s private accounts.